UK students ‘to pay half uni funding’

Students will foot nearly half the bill for university funding by 2014, taking their contribution to the highest level since the 1890s, a UK report has warned.

According to an analysis by the University and College Union (UCU), annual public spending on teaching and research will make up just 15 per cent of universities’ income by 2015 – the lowest since the 1900s.

It has now accused the government of passing the buck from the state to the student.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said the government plans threatened “decades of progress”, while the union said its findings highlighted a “retreat” from public investment in higher education in England.

The study forecasts that public expenditure on teaching and research will drop by 44 per cent over the next three years, from £6.6bn (€7.9 billion) in 2011/12 to £3.7bn (€4.5 billion) in 2014/15.

This would increase the burden placed on students, the UCU said.

Meanwhile, the proportion of funding which comes from students – through higher tuition fees – is expected to reach 47.2 per cent by 2013/2014 – the highest since the 1890s.

“This study shows how over the last thirty years higher education funding has shifted from the state to the student,” Ms Hunt said.

“This government’s regressive university reforms will accelerate this process further and see annual public investment in teaching and research fall to its lowest proportion in over a century.

“These plans will put at risk decades of progress in opening up access to education and will endanger the health of the sector.

“You cannot maintain a world-class university system in the 21st century by turning the clock back to the 1900s and before. Our universities are a public good that currently generate billions for the economy, why put that at risk by starving institutions of public funds and forcing students to foot the bill?”

Researchers analysed official funding records over the last 120 years to compile their report.

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: “Our reforms put university finances on to a long-term sustainable basis.

“Students will have more study choices and funding for universities will follow their decisions.

“We estimate that total funding for the sector could increase by around 10 per cent over the spending review period.”